MATEC Web of Conferences 193, 04001 (2018)

https://doi.org/10.1051/matecconf/201819304001
ESCI 2018

Sustainable and social quality of refugee

housing architecture
Michael Eichner1 and Zinaida Ivanova2,*
1
German University in Cairo - GUC, New Cairo City – Main Entrance of Al Tagamoa Al Khames,
Egypt
2
Moscow State University of Civil Engineering, Yaroslavskoe shosse, 26, 129337, Moscow, Russia

Abstract. The article analyses the relationship between sustainable

architecture, social integration of refugees and innovative urban
development, unfolding the synergetic potential between these questions.
The authors consider that a successful integration of migrants with different
cultural background, education and income level can be best achieved
through buildings and urban districts, designed according to international
sustainable principles. Not less innovation, but more is the key to address
global challenges for spatial development of cities of any scale. Today it is
not the limitation of financial resources for refugee housing programs that
poses a threat to social, balanced and economically successful development
of housing environments in cities, but the lack of knowledge of sustainable
planning principles and sustainable construction techniques. The authors
conclude: Whereas in central Europe socio-cultural and environment-
friendly strategies for cities are widely in place, eastern Europe, Russia and
north Africa or the Middle East region has not yet implemented such
strategies as short- and long-term planning instruments. The article presents
the urban case study project for a sustainable urban extension of the city of
Luxor (Egypt) by the architect M. Eichner, Professor at the German
University in Cairo – GUC.

1 Introduction
The concept of sustainable development of urban settlements adopted by the United
Nations presupposes providing the population with a high standard of living while at the
same time preserving and recovering natural resources and ecological balance. Important
elements of the criteria of sustainability include:
 a consistent increase in the living standard and well-being of the population;
 social protection of people with disabilities and financially disadvantaged citizens;
 formation of a modern housing market, providing financially disadvantaged citizens with
municipal housing;
 integration of representatives of different ethnic groups into the social environment of a
city, cultivating tolerance
of the urban population in relation to each other;

*Corresponding author: ivanovazi@mail.ru

© The Authors, published by EDP Sciences. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution License 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
MATEC Web of Conferences 193, 04001 (2018) https://doi.org/10.1051/matecconf/201819304001
ESCI 2018

 providing real conditions for the cultural development of all ethnic minorities.
These sustainability criteria are coming to the forefront due to the rapid increase of
population migration in the world. According to the United Nations, the number of migrants
in the world in 2015 amounted to 244 million people [1]. The number of internally displaced
persons around the world in 2016 increased by 300 thousand compared to 2015 and amounted
to 65.6 million people. This follows from the annual report of the United Nations Refugee
Agency "Global Trends", published on June 19, 2017 [2]. 22.5 millions of the total number
of internally displaced persons on the planet are refugees; 40.3 million are displaced in their
own countries; 2.8 million are in have the status of asylum-seekers [3]. The governments of
states, to where refugees migrate, face problems not only of receiving them, but also of
investing in job creation and construction of housing.

2 Literature review
In recent decades scientific literature extensively discusses issues of implementation of
sustainable principles in construction, architecture and urban development. Researchers note
that these notions are closely related and include not only ecological and energy-efficient
questions but to a greater extent social objectives. We speak about creation of comfortable
living environments for current and future generations [2,3,4,5,]. Scientific work deals with
the tremendous challenges related to the faces of modern cities and forms the discussion on
implementing concepts of sustainable development and sustainable growth with regard to
regional and national problems [6,7,8]. The DGNB schemes for sustainable districts provide
a powerful and comprehensive system for guiding principles in the field of resource saving
and integrative urban neighborhood development [23] which were applied during the concept
design phase of the sustainable urban case study project for Luxor by the German university
in Cairo GUC. An article of A. R. Haliullin considers current tendencies of architectural
design from the point of ecological, economic, social and other aspects with particular
emphasis of regional social factors. The author presented a unique model named “mobile
eco-sustainable architecture” [12]. In this article, I.V. Dianova-Klokova and D.A. Metanyev
consider the European experience (Finland, University of Joensuu; Netherlands, Delft
University of Technology) and the North American experience (Canada, University of
Ontario Institute of Technology, USA, Florida Polytechnic University and others) of building
certification according to modern national standards [13]. The analyzed examples
successfully combine the principles of interdisciplinarity, ecological compatibility,
developed social engineering and openness, promoting emergence of innovation and
creativity. The projects place emphasis on social significance of innovation in the designs of
planners.
Issues of implementing sustainable development principles of a city in the context of mass
migration and the formation of a complex multicultural population have been widely
discussed recently [11-13]. The main question is, how refugee housing can be realized to
meet the needs of inhabitants of existing cities, of the newly arriving population of refugees
and of future generations, and how to develop new districts that are socially balanced and
economically viable [17, 18]. Politicians, researchers, planners and builders equally discuss
which direction has to be taken to cope with the increasing demand of affordable mass
housing due to population growth and migration streams while avoiding mistakes of mass
housing programs of the 1960’s and 70’s, which in many countries resulted in urban districts
of with a low standard of living and stigmatization of entire segments of the population. The
German Lower Saxony parliament followed a new direction by adopting a strategy paper
where “the concept of pre-occupancy” of buildings with refugees as a first stage for newly
built housing, applied in Lower Saxony can also contribute to the accommodation of refugees
in order to achieve a desirable mix of residents in the neighbourhoods and avoid

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stigmatization in newly built areas and open a way for later social and commercial use of the
new housing stock. This complies with sustainable urban design requirements for more
flexible, gender and generation friendly design of urban districts with buildings, taking into
account easily adaptable construction, technology and floor planning solutions.

3 Materials and methods

The main research method applied by the authors is document analysis and case study urban
planning. UN statistics, scientific articles, governmental decisions and actions of the
legislative bodies, architectural projects of economy-class residential houses aimed for
financially disadvantaged citizens and implemented in some countries were obtained for
analysis. The urban case study master plan was developed in cooperation with the
municipality of the city of Luxor/New Tiba and the government of Luxor, to explore the
potential of modern sustainable principles (DGNB German sustainable building council) for
social, integrative and economic extension of the existing town New Tiba. The aim of the
authors is to gather and apply existing ideas in case study projects to explore architectural
and urban planning solutions for refugee resettlement problems and supply of housing
typologies complying with requirements of different ethnic groups and their integration into
the social environment of cities. The authors studied Germany extensively as a country with
exceptional experience in resettling and integrating refugees where numerous social
programs concerning the integration of refugees and migrant workers have been
implemented. Moreover, the article presents an architectural project of the author M. Eichner,
the Professor of German University in Cairo – GUC.

4 Results

4.1 Position of professional associations

The often realized container village solution with simple and quick to build low-rise container
housing for refugees faces increasing resistance, not only by existing populations and
refugees themselves, but in particular from specialist associations such as the architects'
chambers. They claim, that substandard and hastily constructed buildings are not a
sustainable solution for our cities, and are lacking in social responsibility in the short and
long-term. Here, of all actors more courage is required to find improved, contemporary social
housing solutions. Consideration of the architectural history of social housing in cities such
as Vienna, Berlin, Munich and others reveal the potential for our cities to shape the future
with innovative and architecturally high-quality solutions. Social housing programs should
be innovative and future orientated, quick to build buildings yet with high technical, social
and energy-efficient standards. A recently published statement of the German Chamber of
architects asserts, “Buildings where refugees live permanently are to be planned and built in
the same way as other dwellings to avoid stigmatisation and ghetto developments. A
departure from hitherto properly regarded planning and building standards and principles
only for refugee housing leads to additional problems and will make the integration even
more difficult” [17]. Refugee housing often means speedy construction at the expense of
beauty and quality, but that doesn’t have to be the case. The German sustainable building
council have “expressed their opposition to hastily constructed functional buildings” and
quoted in this question, that especially in the context of the refugee debate and argued that a
so-called softening of modern construction standards for the realization of refugee housing

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buildings should be avoided” (DGNB, Zielkonflikt im privaten Wohnungsbau). Nothing

completely new, but in general better social housing is necessary.

4.2 Innovative potential for construction of refugee housing buildings

The authors consider the potential and possibilities of construction of social, integrative
mixed-use housing districts according to current sustainable standards like the German
DGNB standard, suitable for temporary or permanent integration of refugees of different
cultural background to be both extremely important and inevitable. In particular a deeper
analysis and consideration of the specific sustainability requirements for Socio-cultural and
Functional Quality in urban districts including the criteria “Social and Functional Mix”,
“Objective / Subjective Safety”, “Inclusive Access” and “Urban Integration” (DGNB urban
districts, overview criteria, version 2012) positively influences the social atmosphere of
newly built urban areas. On a building scale several recently realized housing complexes,
adaptable during the entire life cycle document the possibility of innovative architectural
solutions for social housing buildings with limited economic budgets. One of the first of these
projects is the “Aktivhaus Series” in the city of Winnenden; refugee housing in different
urban environments focussing primarily on energy efficiency and smart energy grid
integration. This refugee housing complex, realized in 2016 demonstrates the possibility to
take into consideration the latest sustainable requirements for ecologic, climate saving and
healthy building design, in compliance with budget limits for social housing. The building
complex is designed and realized, meeting the 6 main sustainable criteria fields of
environmental, economic, sociocultural and functional, technical, process and site quality
criteria. As a self-sufficient and modular constructed refugee complex for 200 Syrian
refugees, it was erected in a very short construction time of 12 weeks through factory
prefabricated and integrated building technology for electrical, ventilation and drainage
systems as well as all window and doors. Solar energy production of up to 200% of daily
consumption needs results in a surplus of produced energy that can be sold or stored in-house,
supported by a smart energy supply network with neighbouring buildings. The building
systems allow for enough energy production for additional e-cars or e-bikes as e-mobility.
The floor planning follows a flexible concept and can be adapted to different user groups and
households. Planned as refugee housing for three years, the project will then be converted
into social housing. To summarise, the building produces neither CO2-emissions nor waste
during reconstruction or demolition. It represents a showcase project for different rural and
metropolitan areas in cities worldwide.

4.3. Government role in housing programs for refugees

The governmental role in stimulating and regulating social housing programs to provide low
cost and future orientated living environments to refugees within existing urban contexts is,
according to government representatives, currently being reinvented in Germany. The
Federal Ministry for construction has eased and simplified laws for housing construction.
The focus for the integration of larger numbers of refugees and related new construction sites
lies within the German capitals and university cities. Existing building regulations are being
reconsidered for adaptation and simplification, further increase of requirements such as the
energy saving regulation (Energieeinsparverordnung - EnEV) will be postponed and
requirements for cost-intensive parking spaces per housing unit will be temporarily reduced.
Important flanking measures have also been implemented with maximum rental limitations
and increased social housing allowances. According to the Federal Minister of Construction
there is a new dynamic in the innovative housing market in Germany again. He emphasized,
“housing construction is once again a key social policy issue”.

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4.4 New Luxor – sustainable and refugee friendly master plan

First mayor cities in Egypt, with tremendous migration and population growth challenges
due to a yearly growth of up to 2.1 million inhabitants, turn to urban development according
to sustainable principles as common planning approaches. Traditional mass housing building
typologies have proved neither to meet people’s requirements nor to be environment-friendly
solutions. A recent 180 degree shift in the urban planning strategy was demonstrated by the
government of Luxor, by the initiation of a case study for a sustainable development strategy
for its new districts from the German university of Cairo GUC and Prof. M. Eichner.
According to the city administration two large-scale new urban areas with up to 200,000
inhabitants in New Tiba and up to 800,000 inhabitants in New Luxor district will be realized
as satellite towns outside the historic and farmland districts over the next 30 years to address
the market demand for new housing for the growing local population, migrants from the
neighbouring African countries and national, as well as international, tourists. The
construction of standardized mass housing typologies, developed between the 1950s and
1980s for Luxor and other Egyptian cities was stopped as they proved unsuccessful on the
current real estate market.
The project aim was to transform the two areas into multi-facetted model districts of
regional and international importance, based on the latest sustainable and ecological urban
quality principles. For both sites, on the northern and eastern city border of Luxor, new
multifunctional and mixed used housing neighbourhoods were planned, integrating a
convention and exhibition centre, an Olympic sports and training centre, a museum complex
and a business downtown, surrounded by different innovative housing typologies. The master
plans form the framework for New Tiba and New Luxor to develop into an international
destination for administration, conferences, events and sports according to socio-economic,
ecologic and technologic requirements, providing new housing projects for local needs of
people and make it an attractive destination for visitors and inhabitants by improving
opportunities to accommodate large cultural events, conferences, sport events and convenient
environmental friendly living conditions. The districts will be self-sustaining in food and
energy production as well as in providing workplaces and areas to attract small and medium
size businesses with non-polluting business models. Focusing on resource efficiency led to
using local construction materials and building technologies like rammed earth constructed
low-rise housing, with pedestrian friendly neighbourhood design, integrating natural
topography into the city structure, supporting the use of public transport and creation of
innovative new forms of landscape areas, parks, generation- and gender-friendly living
districts (Fig. 1).
The urban master plan provides districts with healthy living and working environments,
secure urban spaces with a high quality of life and reduced car traffic, integrating workplaces
both for local inhabitants and international business structures (Fig. 2).

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Fig. 1. Sustainable urban evaluation, master plan New Tiba, Luxor, GUC, Prof. M. Eichner, 2017.

Fig. 2. Car reduced mixed-use housing neighbourhood, Luxor, GUC, Prof. M. Eichner, 2017.

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A network of green desert parks, urban gardening areas and man-made forest park zones
play an integral role in the quality of life and the atmosphere in New Luxor, maximizing
special convenience and air quality as well as reducing environmental impacts. With passive
design strategies and active building typologies all consumed energy being used in buildings
is generated on-site or in nearby locations. The concept for the “ Green Desert Town” will
be self-sustaining in food production and energy generation, resource efficient through using
local construction materials for buildings and infrastructure, innovative with new forms of
education and health care facilities as well as of high social and recreational quality (Fig.3).

Fig. 3. Urban reconstruction and development plan New Tiba, Luxor, GUC, Prof. M. Eichner, 2017.

5 Discussion

5.1 Housing Market situation in western countries

Currently in Germany there are 4 million social apartments missing. Only 1/5 of low-income
households currently have the chance to get social housing accommodation and only 30,000
newly built social housing units have been introduced into the market in 2015. There should
be at least 130,000 new residential units each year. Currently, the ten major German cities
with the strongest housing shortage lack more than 100,000 rented apartments - some 17,500
of them in Frankfurt am Main alone and 8,000 in Stuttgart. By 2017 a total of 825.000 social
apartments for rent have to be built in Germany.

5.2 German government strategy for a sustainable integration of refuges

The German government expects, that around 350,000 apartments are necessary per year to
integrate refuges. To stimulate the low cost housing market, increased tax reduction reaching
35 % of the construction costs for investors of refugee housing projects have been adopted.

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An expected 2 billion Euros per year till 2020 will be spent to realize this increase in social
housing buildings. Federal financing programs intend to strengthen decentralization in urban
districts, with a focus on education, employment, trade and adult education while promoting
affordable housing in urban agglomerations and university cities, stimulating existing social
housing programs with benefits for students, low-income people and refugees at the same
time. The financing programs of the German government-owned development bank KfW
play an important role. Through the KfW Bank (Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau) an
additional financing program for refugee housing projects was set up. The KfW offers special
support to municipalities for the rapid establishment of initial accommodation for refugees.
1 billion Euros in 2015 were available for this purpose. “This funding sum has been fully
retrieved,” declared the Minister of State at the Federal Chancellery and refugee
commissioner, Peter Altmaier, at a press conference in Berlin. In view of the strong demand,
the program was increased by EUR 500 million in order to be able to meet all the requests
submitted, according to Altmaier. This could result in a total of up to 150,000 refugees placed
in first homes.

5.3 Low Cost refugee Housing, Karlstadt, Wuerzburg

Another refugee construction project, implemented by the Bavarian Ministry for

Construction and Transport, is combining sustainable solutions and economic restraints,
achieving a highly integrative living environment for refugees in the short term and high
quality yet affordable social housing in the long term by additionally meeting climate saving
and energy-efficient standards (Fig. 4). It was permitted to build implementing reduced space
and construction standards, applying the following solutions:
 Construction as CO2-emission saving prefabricated wooden frame system;
 Minimized and centralized technical installation;
 Cost saving outside staircases;
 With central social facilities like administration, social care service rooms,
multifunctional space for residents;
 Apartment units with a reduced living space of approx. 45m² each;
 Flexible apartments for families with max. 2-3 children or communal living;
 Cost efficiency through square meter reduction per person;
 Minimized staircase and corridor areas within the building envelope;
 No basement or underground parking;
 High degree of prefabrication of the building elements;
 Reduced parking space ratio per household in coordination with the city of Karlstadt;

Fig. 4. Refugee housing complex in Karlstadt, Bavarian Ministry of the Interior, Building
and Transport.

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5.4 Holistic planning of integrative housing buildings

To achieve integrative urban quality and apply holistic urban development strategies the so
called SNAP-TOOL (Systematic Sustainable requirement evaluation) was developed by the
German Ministry for Transport, Construction and Urban development BVBS, supporting
planners and other decision makers to address the tremendous challenges arising with the
complex balancing of partly contradicting aims like resource saving, energy-efficiency,
social and cultural requirements including the urban transformation caused by migration,
refugees and rapid population growth. While applying the method for sustainable concept
findings with SNAP recommendations on a building and urban scale, based on sustainable
and social principles, key questions can be approached and relevant sustainable criteria can
be considered in different planning phases, starting from competition or concept phases to
realisation or exportation phases. Municipalities as well as individual planners are capable to
handle sustainable pre-examination and decide to which detail sustainable criteria are
qualitatively or quantitatively reviewed.

6 Conclusions
Numerous realized housing districts under strong consideration of socio-cultural, economic,
ecologic and technologic requirements show that refugee housing can be of higher
architectural quality, cheaper erected and exploited as simple container solutions or
temporary buildings. Such examples finally significantly contribute to the sustainable
development of cities and metropolitan areas and at the same time contribute to a climate
saving building culture. Implementing social integration of refugees and minority groups
through sustainable and innovative architecture requires from all actors in the field of
construction, urban design, political decision-making and financing to acquire a deeper
understanding of sustainable principles and arising cultural and economic potentials.
Assessment methods based on sustainable criteria will allow quality-of-life improvement in
the cities of Eastern Europe, Russia and North Africa or the Middle East region and guide
their architectural and urban planning processes in a more integrative way, requiring
significant restructuring of administrative and construction permission procedures by taking
sustainable requirements in all stages into account. The systematic sustainable requirement
evaluation is in many capitals already successfully applied, a strategy, not only for developed
western countries but also for developing countries.
This article is written within the framework of Erasmus+ Programme – Jean Monnet
project entitled "Migration processes and urban design: EU experience”. The ideas stipulated
in this article are solely based on the views of its co-authors.

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